Inclusive quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus reactions

Abstract

The quasielastic (QE) contribution of the nuclear inclusive electron scattering model developed by Gil, Nieves, and Oset [Nucl. Phys. A627, 543 (1997); A627, 599 (1997)] is extended to the study of electroweak charged current (CC) induced nuclear reactions, at intermediate energies of interest for future neutrino oscillation experiments. The model accounts for, among other nuclear effects, long range nuclear [random phase approximation (RPA)] correlations, final state interaction (FSI), and Coulomb corrections. Predictions for the inclusive muon capture in $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ and the reaction $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ $({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}},{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}})X$ near threshold are also given. RPA correlations are shown to play a crucial role and their inclusion leads to one of the best existing simultaneous description of both processes, with accuracies of the order of 10--15 % for the muon capture rate and even better for the Liquid Scintillating Neutrino Detector (LSND) measurement.